Airline News and Commentary

Air Canada’s Innovative Fare Strategy

Air Canada has introduced an innovative fare strategy, where customers add or substract from the cost of the base fare according to what features they want. Let me say that in English. Let’s say a round trip ticket from Montreal to Toronto is $150. Air Canada will charge you $15 for a seat assignment. But they’ll also take $7 off if you agree not to change the ticket. And they’ll take $5 off if you don’t check baggage. And $3 off for not taking frequent flyer miles. That last one is interesting, because they’re putting a value on the miles, which most airlines are loathe to do. A handful of European airlines have toyed with this system, but this is the most advanced that I’m aware of. Look for someone (US Airways?) to implement something like this in the next year. I wouldn’t be surprised if 2 years from now, this was how every fare was sold.